Epicurean Cranberry
by geminiangel1964
Summary: My mother passed last Saturday morning and was buried on Wednesday. I want to thank all of you for the support and kindness during the last few months. I am very lucky to have all of you. This is part of the Bourbon and Aspirin Universe. A conversation between Zuma and the twins.


"And then Uncle Ned took me outside and we played for a while. He isn't as a good a thrower as Daddy but…" Zuma shrugged. It was a foregone conclusion among the three that their Daddy and Papa were the best at whatever they did. "Then I saw something move. I stood really still and then, wham….."

"Whoa…" Chris bobbed his head. "A criminal?"

"Better. I chased that old vole thing, the one daddy said is digging holes in the yard. Uncle Ned said I did such a good job that he promised me two Agent Zuma treats at dinner."

"Wow." Chris waved his hand. "That's amazing."

"Well, just part of being an agent," Zuma woofed modestly. "I took Rocky for a walk in the backyard then Grandpa let me curl up in the chair beside him while he watched the men play with their ball. Wish I was there, I could fetch it better than they can. So how was your shopping trip? I know Papa was really excited."

Boring." Chris said grumpily. "I woke up in the pram with Victoria as Papa was putting Linnie in her car seat. Total waste of time."

"Oh, no, it wasn't." Linnie singsonged. "It totally rocked. I chose not to sleep through it. I can't help it you're such a lazy bones. I had a wonderful time shopping with Papa and Aunt Breena for our new home. I can't wait until we can move in. Wait till you see what I picked out." She neglected to mention papa interrupting her beauty sleep which grandpa said was very important for every princess. Hadn't she given Papa a right scolding for that? Even if he was excited over the juice box, it was no call for ruining her nap. Of course, it had all worked out in the end as once he had apologized properly, she had gotten the opportunity to help with the shopping. Poor papa, he so needed help. Why if it hadn't been for her input, she shuddered to think what their new kitchen would look like. "I let you and Victoria sleep and helped Aunt Breena and Papa myself. You can't imagine our new house…"

"Why do we need a new house?" Chris groused. "I haven't gotten to all of this one yet."

"I'm getting a bigger room," Zuma spoke up. "When I was a pup, there was plenty of room for me to share my room and bed with daddy and mommy… daddy and papa. Now with the two of you and I'm bigger my room is a bit cramped. Papa says my new room in the new house is huge with a huge bed. He even said you have your own rooms for when you are bigger. I would have gone shopping with you but Papa said he was working on the kitchen not my room."

"We did. We also worked on the special room."

"Special room?"

"I saw the blue plans and right off the kitchen is a huge room where we can all get together and watch "Say Yes to the Dress," the whole family…". She paused dramatically, "the whole entire family.'

"Papa and daddy and grandpa and Uncle Ned and us?" Zuma woofed.

"All of us." Linnie expounded, "Aunt Breena, Uncle Jimmy, Victoria, Uncle Tim, Aunt Abby…"

"It must be huge."

"Oh, it is. And the TV is life size Papa says. When we're older, he says we can have Victoria and Diana and our friends over for movie a thongs and we can sit at the counter and eat pizza and watch movies and eat popcorn and drink juice."

"Even Jethro?" Zuma shook his head. "Wow. I bet grandpa will watch his ball game in there with me in his lap."

"Of course." Linnie basked in her role of informant. "There's also gonna be a big juice box in the corner that plays music. Papa says we can all dance."

"Dancing's for sissies." Chris opined.

"You take that back." Zuma barked indignantly. "We watched daddy and papa dance the other night and they aren't sissies."

Chris had the grace to look ashamed. "Well, most dancing is. Not daddy and papa, though."

"What else, Linnie?"

"Well, there are big tables hidden in the wall. Papa and daddy will get them out and we can play games."

Zuma tilted his head. "I don't think that will work to well. Won't my ball fall off? Or me?"

Linnie frowned. "Papa said we'd play games but I don't think it will work out to well either. Maybe you have to jump on the table?"

"Daddy doesn't want me on the table usually. He wouldn't even let me sit on it when I was a pup."

The three sat in silence pondering before Chris spoke up. "Grandpa will figure it out. He's really smart." The other two nodded in agreement.

Chris frowned. It did sound like he had missed a bit on the trip. Why did Papa and Aunt Breena have to go at nap time? He and Victoria could have helped, too.

"What else?" Zuma barked.

"Well, Papa picked a lot of stuff that he will use to cook with." Linnie's tone indicated that she had found that a bit less exciting. "He had this plate he said he had got in Paleermoan. He and Aunt Breena and the man at the store picked things that would match the colors. We're having a big kitchen in the new house. Papa showed me statins where we can help bake cookies and make cakes and cook for the family."

"It's Palermo." Zuma interjected.

"Are you sure?"

"When I was a baby, Papa and Daddy went there. They left me here with Grandpa. Uncle Tim had to come rescue me. The thing under the bed ate me."

"The thing under the bed!" Chris repeated in alarm.

"Don't worry. Daddy and Papa got rid of it. We're safe now." Zuma assured him. "Daddy and Papa will never let anyone, or anything hurt us." The twins nodded; they knew how much their parents loved them. "How do you know we will be able to help at the stations?" Zuma asked having heard Papa talk about the stations in the new house.

"Papa told me so. There is one where he said we would all make cookies for Santa; you, me, Chris and Victoria."

"Who's Santa?" Zuma asked. "I don't remember him."

"Me neither." Chris shook his head.

"I don't know but he must be important. Papa said he would tell us all about him later."

"Cool." Chris bobbed his head. "So cookies… We gonna get to eat some or are Daddy, Uncle Ned and grandpa gonna hog them all."

Linnie narrowed her eyes. "He didn't say…"

"If I'm gonna work, I expect a cookie at least." Chris said firmly.

Zuma nodded in solidarity with his brother. "What about my treats? Do they have a station?"

Linnie hastened to assure him, "Papa says we will make treats at the cookie station. Papa said Grandpa is making you a special chair so you can reach the counters and one for me and one for Chris and one for Victoria and he's even making one for Diana.

The twins shared a smile. They had met Helen at NCIS when Papa would take them to visit and she had brought Diana to see papa while he recovered from his booboo. She had played with them and held them and even helped papa feed them.

Zuma was glad grandpa was making her a chair so she could make cookies with them. Papa had explained to Zuma that Diana's daddy had been a bad man and hurt her so she couldn't run and play so Zuma had to be very careful with her. She had looked so sadly at Zuma as she pet him, but he was not an Agent for nothing. He had gone and retrieved his soft leather ball Papa brought him from Palermo and handed it to her. He then encouraged her with his nose to throw it.

Daddy didn't like him playing ball in the house, but when Zuma snuck a peep in his direction, Daddy didn't look upset, he looked proud. Daddy had even come over and had shown Diana how to throw the ball and carefully take it when Zuma retrieved it. Zuma felt so good that he had made Daddy proud of him that he hadn't even asked for two treats at supper.

Miss Helen had hugged him when they left. Afterwards, Papa had gotten the brush and given Zuma a good brushing all the while telling him what a good boy Zuma was, how proud he was and how much he loved Zuma. By the time Papa was done, Zuma was a puddle of puppy goo. He loved when Papa brushed him.

Even though they spent a lot of time taking care of his babies, his daddy and papa still made time for Zuma. He couldn't wait until they moved into his new house. His new bed would be big enough for Daddy and Papa to join him, with Chris and Linnie, too. Maybe Grandpa would like to join them sometimes, Zuma made a note to ask him.

"What's this? None of my angels napping?" Papa sat down next to the playpen where the three were laying. "How did you get in the pen, hum? You going to nap with the twins?" In answer, Zuma stretched out next to his babies. "How about a song?" The twins waved their hands in excitement. They loved papa to sing to them. "Come on along and listen to the lullaby of Broadway…"


End file.
